A US woman who shot and killed her husband and two adult children before taking her own life is thought to have committed the shocking crime as a result of being ostracised from the religion she was raised in.

A federal judge sentenced a former Arkansas judge Wednesday to five years in prison — a stiffer punishment than prosecutors recommended — after he admitted giving young male defendants lighter sentences in return for personal benefits that included sexual favours.

Every time I tell a mate I’m doing a story on cryptocurrency, they invariably ask me the same two questions: should they invest their own hard-earned money, and which cryptocurrency will get them a Lamborghini/yacht/island quickest?

In a 60 Minutes online exclusive, reporter Liz Hayes quizzed Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on his relationship with the unpredictable Twitter aficionado and US president Donald Trump ahead of their meeting at the White House Friday.

Man to be sentenced for Vic baby murder

A 21-year-old man will be sentenced on Friday for the ferocious bludgeoning murder of a 10-month-old boy as he burgled a Victorian house.

In a case that shocked the central Victorian city of Bendigo, Harley Hicks used a homemade baton made of copper wire wrapped in tape to bludgeon 10-month-old Zayden Veal-Whitting more than 30 times about the face and head during a burglary spree in June 2012.

A Victorian Supreme Court jury found Hicks guilty of murder, which prosecutor Michelle Williams SC described in a pre-sentence hearing as "an evil killing without any rational explanation".

Ms Williams asked Justice Stephen Kaye to jail Hicks for life with a non-parole period.

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Hicks had an extensive criminal record, with nine court appearances before his murder trial dating back to 2007 for crimes including wilful damage, thefts and burglaries, and had breached almost all orders made against him.

The last, a community corrections order for a 2011 armed robbery, was made two months before Zayden's murder.